Auction Results

On 28 January 2016, GMO Registry won rights to own the .shop gTLD for $41.5 million in an ICANN auction, outbidding all other applicants. At the time of the auction, this was the most expensive reported auction in the history of the New gTLD Program.[1]

Current Applicants

GMO Registry (Community Application, the company has sponsored ICANN events using the .shop brand.[2] the company has applied for both community and non-community status. The latter option is likely a back-up measure in case their community status application fails.

GMO Registry (Standard Application), one of two applications filed by GMO for .shop.

Commercial Connect, Community Application, Originally applied for .shop in 2000 round and has continually worked with the eCommerce community to develop a strong mutually beneficial application for all stakeholders.[4]

Amazon

Amazon's application was issued a GAC Early Warning from the representative of Australia and GAC Chair, Heather Dryden. The warning system is noted as a strong recommendation on behalf of national governments to the ICANN Board that a given TLD application should be denied as it stands. Applicants are encouraged to work with objecting GAC members.[6]

The warning states that the applicant is "seeking exclusive access to a common generic string .. that relates to a broad market sector," which Ms. Dryden notes could have unintended consequences and a negative impact on competition.[7]

Radix

Radix received a GAC Early Warning as an entire applicant, where each one of the applicants was flagged by the U.S. Government. This seems to be the only time a portfolio applicant had all of their applications warned. The issue does not deal with the technical capabilities or thematic content of their applications, but rather the inclusion of an email address associated with the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation. It seems that Radix included correspondence with this address as a recommendation with each of their applications.[8]

Community Application

There are two Community Priority Applications or .shop. One community priority applicant, GMO Registry, also submitted a generic application in order to still have a chance at the TLD should they not be awarded the community designation. The other community applicant, Commercial Connect LLC, submitted only the one community application.

The application from Commercial Connect LLC defines its community as e-Commerce operators that run "B2C site[s] that utilize credit card processing requiring them to abide by PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) to operate." The company notes that "We are the original applicant for .SHOP from the 2000 round. While there were other applicants in the initial rounds, Commercial Connect was the only one that made it through the entire qualification process. When delegation of .SHOP was put off until the ʺnextʺ round, CC has been working with the above community to establish its relationship and representation in that community. Initially, since there was no clear community representation, we worked on establishing some form of a member trade association. The result was the creation of ECWR.net (eCommerce World Retailers). This was formed in March, 2004 and clearly predates the 2007 requirement in the Applicant Guidebook. We currently have in excess of 1,000 members representing a substantial amount of eCommerce (these members represent an equilivant in excess of $866 trillion in annual sales)."[9]

The application by GMO Registry leaves greater room in its use of language for shops providing "offline" commerce services. Their application is supported by a few commerce associations, such as the European Multi-channel and Online Trade Association (EMOTA) and the Japan Foundation for Electronic Commerce (JFEC). There are not strong membership requirements delineated in the application.[10]

Sting Confusion Objection to .shopping

.shop applicant Commercial Connect submitted an objection to Donuts' application for .shopping on the grounds that the two strings are confusingly similar and that Internet users might mistake the strings for one another. An ICDR panelist, Robert Nau, ruled in favor of Commercial Connect, which may force [[Donuts]' application into a contention set along with all of the applicants for .shop. However, no objection was filed against Uniregistry for their application of .shopping.[11] Nau was also the panelist who decided the case that found Amazon's application for .通販, which means "online shopping" in Chinese, to be confusingly similar to .shop. New gTLD applicant community members have expressed concern that the panelist chosen to decide certain objections has a major effect on the outcome of the objection.[12]